should a recording engineer expect anything in the way of residuals (points) for the use of his work?

About five years ago I recorded some solo piano for which I was paid at the time.

Now it appears that the director of a big film production now in post has basically fallen in love with the track and wants to use it, or fragments of it, throughout the movie. The artist wants me to check the master and see if I can come up with a super version of the same thing (re-mix it) since at the time there was no particular focus on this tune.

The artist who played the piece wrote it.

I am just wondering - is it usual for the recording/mixing/mastering engineer to have no residuals (points) whatsoever no matter how popular his recording may become later?

Each situation is unique. Usually engineers do not recieve residuals for tracking, mixing perhaps but its something that tends to be earned and recognized by the artist during your employent. I have mixed records where I have and have not received points. I have also joined a project where my impact was such that the artist in recognition of the input and my low salary due to the nature of the budget, gave me a point.

I ask because this was recorded for a very small fee when things were tight for the client. Since then he has gone on to compose the soundtracks for 4 or 5 movies, a couple of them big productions with major stars.

I recorded, mixed and mastered these particular recordings and know that movie budgets seem to exist in a different economic universe from sound recordings!

I ask because this was recorded for a very small fee when things were tight for the client. Since then he has gone on to compose the soundtracks for 4 or 5 movies, a couple of them big productions with major stars.

I recorded, mixed and mastered these particular recordings and know that movie budgets seem to exist in a different economic universe from sound recordings!

Russell

In your situation you might ask to be paid full rate for the remix plus a bonus for what your original work has garnered for the artist. I will warn you though that this may be met with resistance and even the loss of a client. Its truly difficult to ask for deals to be retroactively adjusted. The only was to ensure that is to negotiate that upfront ( a reuse or residual fee) if the song / project gets placed at a future date. That would most likely involve some legal document which by their nature are expensive to draft.

Its impossible to know how things are going to pan out in the future, you can only make a good faith effort to do the "right thing" when its staring you in the face .